The Raven of Highever
by Phantom of War
Summary: Everything is at risk in Ferelden, the country is at the brink of civil war, the Darkspawn are rising and the Archdemon is back. The only hope the nation has are eight young Gray wardens who are about to figure out victory cannot be achieved without a heavy price. Can they get over their social and personal differences? or will the Blight swallow them whole?


The Raven of Highever

Prologue: The strange disembodied voice

Three teenagers were headed to an abandoned building in the outskirts of Highever, the eldest was a tall and lean human with think black hair in a wild mess with striking blue eyes, a goatee and wore a suit of chain mail with two swords at his side. The Middle was an elven girl flame color hair tied into a ponytail, a slender built, fierce gray eyes and wearing the armor of studded leather along with a beautifully made bow. The youngest was a dwarf with a suit of solid plate carrying a shield and axe, with dark red hair and dark brown eyes he kept up with his companions gamely.

"Can you please tell us why in the ancestors ass we are coming to this dump Devlin Cousland!" growled the dwarf with a savage scowled only to receive a grin that all too irrated him from the captain of the guard that hailed from Highever. The elven woman shook her head at her friends antics it was so like them to score points off each other most of time, it was downright maddening. After the friends ran a while longer a single down trodden house appeared over the hill and Devlin stopped to a walk with his left hand on the hilt of his father's sword, soon after his friends followed suit.

Finally they reached the house and Devlin gently opened the door and called in "Hello anyone one there?" he asked into the house as he silently drew his blade, he saw his friends follow suit. The dwarf led the way passing Devlin and his elven companion being the first one inside the house, if you could call it as such. The place was little more than a shack and filled to the brim with trash and dirt everywhere, even the floor looked like it hasn't been swept in ages. "Well I was certain that he's be here sorry for dragging you guys out here for nothing, Adaia, Trian" sighed Aiden in disappointment.

"What were you hoping to find here?" asked Trian more than a bit curious at his friend's reason for dragging them to this dump. Devlin closed his eyes and for the first time wondered if his mother had somehow misinformed him of what was supposed to lie inside the shack house. "My mother told me that someone was here who is willing to talk about blight" he said. That got the elf and dwarf curious, the blight of Ferelden it was being called by the majority of Thadas due to the fact that the Archdemon was killed before it gained any momentum. However it was also widely unsung about by the survivors and soldiers the fought in the war, Devlin's own father Cormac Cousland was the leader of the wardens who fought the darkspawn.

Out of nowhere the three friends felt cold and before they could do anything ice froze them to the chest thereby stopping them from using their weapons effectively, then a figure that hid in the shadows made their presence known. "Reckless, careless and absolutely foolish, but correct your mother is about someone being here that knows and will talk of the blight." Said the figure now revealed to be a man of slight built and tall stature. At first he glared at the three youths then when he looked at Devlin he nearly dropped his staff. "Cormac?" he gasped

"No my name is Devlin Cousland! Cormac's my father!" said Devlin hoping that the man might of gasped in fear of his father's name; after all during the blight his father had a lot of men after his blood. The man looked at Trian and Adaia as well with a look of recognition. He stared at them with a sort of misty-eyed expression on his face. As if he was caught in the past when there were better times. "It's been so long, sorry about the ice Templars ya know? That's right the Inquisitor got them under control, huh? Nasty piece of business there, no back in my day they were out of control" said the old man with a grin as if remembering the events.

Adaia looked at the old man a bit closer, it was then she realized why he looked so familiar. He was seen by all three of them before on a painting in the hall of the royal palace and she kicked herself for not remembering sooner. He was Aiden Amell of the Gray Wardens; he disappeared years ago after the blight, around the same time as his own father, before the Mage-Templar war. His hair was a mess and most of it was silver flecked with brown hair, his eyes were dulled by what once must have been piercing blue eyes. His robes were wore and tattered like they've been to the fade and back through the stomach of a pride demon, even his oak staff seemed to lose what she believed a shine over the years.

"Your Aiden Amell, you were once a warden that fought against the Archdemon under the leadership of Cormac Cousland." Said Adaia causing the two men with her to look surprised. Trian looked at the man closer and suddenly felt like a giant fool for not noticing it sooner. Devlin looked at Aiden and had to admit, the older man had seen better days or rather better decades.

"now if you kids have stopped examining me I think we got down to business of what happened on that dreaded year" said Aiden as he showed them to his sofa and chair, he sat down with a grunt of effort and tried to get comfortable. Trian sat on the floor as he put aside his weapons and saw Devlin sit on the couch while Adaia took out a wooden chair to sit in. Aiden closed his eyes as if trying to concentrate on the old memories, that is before Devlin put in. "are you sure you're a warden? You're awfully old to be one, by my estimate no warden makes it past thirty years"

Adaia went to curse him with all sorts of nasty things when Aiden chuckled. "Aye, I'm old for a warden, that's because I haven't let myself die before doing one last task."

"And what task is that?" asked Trian with curiosity and intrigued about what could be so important that he'd have to stall off death to do it.

"To tell the real story of the fifth blight, not some Romanticized or sugar coated version that the historians or poets make." Aiden said with a grim look on his face and what looked to be a measure of strength returned to his eyes. "The real story, that is quite a tale a horrible bloody tale fill with sacrifice, pain and suffering, but at the end of the blight it was won through courage, cunning and a lot of bodies"

Ok that's the end of the first chapter I will try to update as soon as possible, I know I am evil for the use of cliff hangers but the next chapter will have Aiden introducing a character, so who will be up first? Find out and I would like reveiws


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